Golfer Steve Elkington tweets homophobic joke about Michael Sam

Steve Elkington tees off on the 12th hole during the final round of the 2005 PGA Championship.

Steve Elkington tees off on the 12th hole during the final round of the 2005 PGA Championship. (Chris Trotman / EPA)

Chuck Schilken

Steve Elkington must be feeling pretty good about himself right about now.

The 51-year-old former PGA Championship winner appears to be the first famous athlete to make inappropriate comments on Twitter about Michael Sam, the NFL prospect who came out publicly as gay two weeks ago.

Way to go, Elks! What a zinger ... bet you couldn't stand waiting two weeks to unleash that bit of comic genius on the world.

Sam, the former Missouri defensive end who was the SEC defensive player of the year, will be the first openly gay player in the NFL if he's drafted in May. He has received an overwhelming amount of public support after his announcement this month.

But, obviously, this is still a very divisive subject. And everybody in this country is entitled to their opinions and are free to express them on Twitter or however else they wish to communicate.

You would think, though, that someone like Elkington, who has gotten in trouble before for sharing his unfiltered thoughts to the world via Twitter, would know better than to express such controversial thoughts -- no matter how hilarious he might find them -- on such a public forum.